Mounting means for bellows type thermostatically operated valve mechanisms



Feb. 5, 1952 V J. v. GIESLER ETAL 2,584,443

MOUNTING MEANS FOR BELLOWS TYPE THERMOSTATICALLY OPERATED VALVE MECHANISMS Filed Feb. 9, 1948 2 SI-lEETSS!-IEET 1 INVENTORS Jean/VI Gies ler y Paul E. (Elbe.

Ai't'orlzegs Feb. 5, 1952 J'V. GIESLER ETAL 2,584,443

MOUNTING MEANS FOR BELLOWS TYPE THERMOSTATICALLY OPERATED VALVE MECHANISMS Filed Feb. 9, 1948 Ffc. 6. P

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 INVENTORS Jam Chester y PGULE. Cake.

Patented Feb. 5, 1952 MOUNTING MEANS, ron BELLOWS TYPE THERMOSTATICALLY MECHANISMS OPERATED VALVE Jean V. Giesler and Paul E. Cate, Knoxville, Tenn., assigncrs to Rcbertshaw-Fulton Controls Company, Knovxille, Tenn., a corporation of Delaware Application February 9, 1948, Serial No. 7,188

5 Claims. (Cl. 23634) This invention relates to temperature regulators, and more particularly to temperature regulators of the type commonly employed for controlling the circulation of cooling medium through the cooling systems of internal combustion engines, although temperature regulators embodying the present invention are susceptible to other uses as will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Temperature regulators of the type referred to commonly comprise a thermostatically operated valve mechanism wherein the thermostat is mounted on or suspended from a housing or frame member, each of which will hereinafter be referred to generically .as a supporting member, adapted to be mounted in the path of flow of the cooling medium so that the thermostatically operated valve mechanism will control the circulation of cooling medium in conformity with variations in the temperature thereof. Where, as here preferred, the thermostat is of the type employing an expansible and collapsible corrugated tubular wall or bellows one end of which must be mounted stationarily with respect to the supporting member referred to, a wide variety of constructions have heretofore been proposed for securing the stationary end of the thermostat in position with respect to said supporting member. It is an object of this invention to provide an improved construction of the character referred to wherein the elements for mounting thethermostat on the supporting member are of simplified construction to the end that they may be fabricated and assembled at reduced cost and at increased speed so as to provide for a more economical production of the regulator unit than has heretofore been the case.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved device of the type characterized which includes a simple and highly efficient 'pro- Another object of this invention is to provide an improved device of the type characterized which enables a guide for the valve stem to be readily formed in one piece with the elements for supporting the thermostat from the supporting member.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved device of the type characterized which includes a provision for mounting the stationary end of the thermostat on the supporting member that employs structural members that can be stamped from sheet metal and rapidly assembled with the thermostat and thesupporting member by procedures involving a minimum num ber of simple operations.

Other objects will appear as the description of the invention proceeds. V

' The invention is capable of receiving a variety of mechanical expressions four of which are illustrated on the accompanying drawings, but it is to be expressly understood that the drawings are for purposes of illustration only and are not to be construed as a definition of the limits of the invention, reference being had to the appended claims for that purpose.

Referring in detail to the accompanying drawings, wherein the same reference characters are used to designate corresponding parts in the several figures,

Fig. 1 is an elevation of one embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view illustrating the novel manner of securing the stationary end of the thermostat to the means for mounting the latter on the supporting member;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the member .to which the stationary end of the thermostat is secured;

Fig. 4 is an inverted view of the thermostat to show another manner of attaching the straps to the end member of Fig. 3; i

Fig. 5 is an elevation of a further embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 6 is a view partly in vertical section of the embodiment of Fig. 5;

Fig. '7 is a perspective view of the unitary member constituting both a valve stem guide and supporting straps; and

Fig. 8 is a perspective View of a modified form of the member to which the stationary end of the thermostat may be secured.

Referring 'first to the embodiments of Figs. 1, 2 and 3 wherein is disclosed a known type of temperature regulator for the cooling system of an internal combustion engine, I0 designates a supporting member in the form of a housing illustrated as composed of two generally cylindrical portions I! and 12 of different diameters connected by a shoulder l3, portion 1 I having a flange Hi to facilitate mounting the. unit in position in such a cooling system. Portion I2 is connected disk l9 disposed for cooperation with the valve seat l5. Also mounted on said valve stem 11. is a generally cylindrical valve membertll; 'slidably,

mounted in the housing portion [2 for opening and closing the ports I5 and shown as carried by a generally spider-shaped member 2 iso as to provide for the axial flow of cooling medium through valve member 20. Valve stem H is mounted on the movable end wall 22 of'a thermostat 23, here shown as in the form of an expansible andcollapsible chamber defined by a deeply corrugated expansible and collapsible tubular wall or-bellws- 24 having an end wall 25, at the opposite extremity thereof from said movable-end walli22;to be mounted in stationary position. As'so far described, the thermostatic regulator unit is a known construction and is selected as representative or typical of any suitable form of temperature regulator of the type employin two valve members for controlling the flow of cooling medium through a main conduit and a by-pass conduit, opening and closing the valve disk IS with respect to its seat l predetermining the flow through one. of said conduits and opening and closing of the ports 16 by the valve member 20 controllin the now through the other of said conduits.

The present invention: provides novel means for mounting the thermostat 23 in whatv maybe characerized as a suspended relationship from the supporting member provided by the housing l3 whereby a material saving may be effected in the cost of fabricating and assembling the thermostatically operated valve members with said supporting member. As shown in Fig.3,ia stationary mounting member 26; which may be readily stamped from sheet metal, is: showns'as of generally circular configurationwith'a bottom portion 21 and an upstanding peripherah flange 28 so that said member 2% is of generally -.cupshaped formation. However, if preferred, the flange 28 may be omitted. Bottom portion zl is. so shaped as to conform with the configuration of the end wall of the thermostat-Jami hence where, as shown, said end wall25 has-a portion 23 displaced axially with respecttotlie wall 33 of the last corrugation, bottom portion 2! is provided with a depression fdl' for receiving the displaced portion 23 of end wall 25-"when wall 30' engages the portion surroundingsaid depression. Bottom portion 21', 3! is also provided with a centrally arranged aperture 32', and as originally formed end wall 25 of" the thermostat 23 is provided with a centrally arranged tubular extension 33' of a size adapted to be received freely but snugly in said aperture 32. The flange 28 when usedon member 23 may be of such internal diameter as to surround closely the end of the corrugated wall 24 as appears more particularly from the relationship shown in Fig. 1, and when so received, with the portions 29 and 38 of end wall 25 in contact with the portions 3i and 2? or mounting member 26, tubular extension 33 projects through the aperture 32 to the exterior of member 23. With this relationship and the parts supported in any suitable way against relative displacement, pressure may be applied to the end wall 34 of said tubular extension 33 so as tov upset said extension. 333 to 4 this end that its peripheral wall will bend around the edge of aperture 32 into the clamping relationship shown more particularly in Fig. 2. Thereby mounting member 26 is permanently and securely looked to the end wallj25 of thermostat 23.

While in the broader aspects of this invention mounting member 26 may be secured to the supporting member. I!) in any suitable way, the preferred embodiment. includes a pair of strap-like side ,elements35ewhich may bev secured to housing [0 in any suitable way, as by brazing or soldering the extremities36 to the inner face of housing' portion 1 [,said ends 36 of elements 35 being-bent with respect tothe body of said elements so that when said elements-are secured in position. to housing portion l l they extend in the proper. direction to cooperate with the mounting member 25 as next to be explained.

The flange 28 of member 26, as shown in Fig. 3, is cut away at: two diametrically disposed points to form slots 31' and 38 with tabs39 defining the opposite sides of said slots. Said pairs: of tabs are so spaced 'as to receive freely but snugl the ends-40 ofstrap-like elements 35, said elements 35 being-preferably soformed that said ends 40 have a bend as shown for engagementwith the outer-face of mounting member 25 when assembledirrthe slots 3'! and 38; Then, as shown more particularly in- Figs. 1 and 2, the tabs 33 may be bent into embracing relationship with said straplike' elements 35, whereby the mounting member 26 is securely locked to the strap like elements 35 against relative displacement. Thus the thermostat is fixedly attached to the supporting member H3 in proper position for the valve members- !9 and 23 to cooperate wtih valve seat 15" and ports [6.

In place of providing diametrically opposed slots 31 and 33 by means of outwardly project ing tabs 39 as shown in Fig; 3 the supporting member 25 may be made of somewhat larger diameter and slotted at diametrically disposed points inside of the flange 28,'so-thatwhen the strap-like elements 35 are engaged in said slots and-the end portions 49 properly-bent as heretofore described, the mounting member- 26 will be locked to the strap-like elements 35 against relative displacement. Thus, as shown in Fig.4;the mounting member 26 may be made of- 'la'rger diameter than the endwall of the thermostat 23 so as to provide space between the fiange- 28 and the periphery of the corrugated wall 24, and bottom portion 21 of mounting member 25 is provided, adjacent but inside of the flange 28, with a pair of diametrically disposed slots 4| of appropriate size to receive the ends 43 of the strap-like elements 35. When inserted into said slots through the space between the flange "28 and the periphery of the corrugated wall 24, the ends 46 of the strap-like elements 35' may be bent over into engagement with member 26-, so that they then extend analogousl as in the embodiment of, Figs. 1 to 3, to lock the member 26 securely and fixedly to the strap-like elements 35.

The aforesaid manner of attaching mounting member 26 to the supporting member mmay also be employedwhen the end wall of thermostat 23 is attached to said member 25 in any other suitable way than. above described and also when mounting members of other suitable forms and configurations are used;

Referring now to Figs. 5' to 8, inclusive, the invention'isshown as embodied in a known type of temperature regulator for the cooling systemof 50 appropriately attached to the movable end wall 22 of a thermostat 23, here again showni'as in the form of an expansible and collapsible chamber defined by a deeply corrugatedexpan sible and collapsible corrugated wall or bellows 24, said movable end wall 22 and an opposite stationary end wall 25 here shown as of the same configuration as illustrated in Fig- 2, like parts being given like reference characters; As in the; embodiments of Figs. 1 to 4 a mounting member 26, here shown as of the same construction as illustrated in Fig. 3, and therefore like parts being identified by like reference characters, is secured to the movable end wall 25 of said thermostat 23 in the same manner as heretofore de scribed although other suitable means of attachment may be used.

While mounting member 26 may be attached to supportin member 45 in the same way as heretofore described in conjunction with Figs. 1 to 4', this embodiment illustrates a construction whereby the strap-like side elements may be formed integrally with a valve stem guide. Referring to Fig. 7, the combined valve stem guide and straps are shown as in the form of a unitary U-shaped member 55, which may be stamped out of sheet metal, and composed of a pair of strap-like side portions 58 integrally connected by a bridging portion 51 which, midway of its length, is provided with an aperture 58 of ap propriate size to guidingly receive the valve stem 50, said aperture being shown as surrounded by a. generally cylindrical flange 59 which may be drawn from the metal of the bridging portion 5? during the stamping operation. Bridging portion 51 ma be given any proper shape, the central portion thereof being shown as depressed with respect to the extremities thereof for a purpose that will appear.-

Each end of the bridging portion 51 is slotted as shown at GE], and the metal from the slots is bent outwardly to provide tabs 6!. Supporting member 45, as clearly shown in Fig. 6, is pr0 vided with a pair of diametrically disposed slots 52 of appropriate size to receive said tabs 6| and with said tabs 6! inserted through said slots, 62 said tabs may be bent downwardly into engagement with the face of member 45 to lock the ends of the bridging portion 5! rigidly against the inner face of the member 45 with the central portion containing the guide aperture 58 spaced from member 45. As originally formed the strap-like side members 56 are preferably provided with bent ends 63 so that when assembled with member 26 the ends of said side members are received in the slots 3'! and 38 in member 26, with the end portions 53 of said side members 56 in engagement with the I mounting member 26 (compare Fig. 6) after which the tabs 39 are bent to lock said member securely and rigidly to the side members 56.-

In order to exactl predetermine the location of mounting member 26 with respect to the side members 56, said side members 55 are preferably made somewhat wider than the slots 31 and 38,

: supporting member.

" the edge of the aperture 32.

6 and the end portions thereof are made or narrower width so as to be received in said slots, providing shoulders 64 in such relationship that when the ends of the side members are received in the slots 31 and 38 the tabs 39 will engage said shoulders 64. Thereby, when the tabs 39 are bent into engagement with the outer face of the side members 55, member 26 is rigidly locked between said bent over end portion 53 and the shoulders 64.

This provision for predetermining the location of the mounting member 26 with respect to the strap-like elements and securing a rigid interlock between the'shoulders and the bent overextremities of the strap-like elements may also be employed in the embodiments of Figs. 1 to 4. Also, if preferred, the-side elements may be attached to the supporting member in any of the embodiments by tabs and slots as in Figs. 5 to 8 whether the guiding means is formed separately or not provided.

While it is preferred to attach the stationary end wall of the thermostat to the mounting member 2E by the upset tubular extension 33 as so far described, this is not essential within the broader aspects of the invention of providing a simplified, more rapid and less expensive manner of assembling the thermostat with its mounting member of any appropriate form with the Thus as shown in Fig. 8 the bottom of member 26 may be unperforated so that the end wallof the thermostat may be soldered or otherwise suitably secured thereto, 7

or other appropriate means for securing the end wall of the thermostat to member 26 may be used, and if the end wall of the thermostat lies in one plane the depression 3| may also be omitted. Also, if preferred, the end of the bellows 2 may be sealed directly to said member 26 so that said member constitutes the end wall of the chamber within the thermostat instead of providing a separate end wall for the thermostat chamber. Tabs for securing the stationary end of the thermostat to the strap-like side elements may also be provided on other forms of stationar end walls of thermostats as well as on other forms of mounting members for connection therewith.

v From the foregoing it willbe perceived that all of the members used in mounting thethermostat on the supporting member are of very-simple construction and can be formed at low cost by stamping and shaping from sheet metal. By initially providing the bellows end wall 25 with the cylindrical extension 33 the mounting member 25 may be easily and rapidly secured to the thermostat by merely upsetting the cylindrical extension 33 in the aperture 32 so that the mounting member is gripped to end wall 25 at While this is a preferred construction other forms of attachment of end wall 25 to a mounting member may be used. Mounting member 25 may then be secured to the supporting member by merely passing the extremities of the strap-like side elements, which may be made of thicker gauge metal-than member 25, into the slots provided in the mounting member and the parts thereupon may be locked rigidly together by merely bending the tabs into engagement with the strap-like side elements to rigidly lock the parts together against displacement. This manner of assembly is also available if the tabs are provided on the end wall of the thermostat or other appropriate member connected thereto. Similarly, the strapelikes. side celements' maybe rigidly secured'to the supporting-member, by brazing or .solderingas in the embodimentsaorv Figs. 1 to: 4. or bypassing tabs on said elements through slots in the; supportingmember and bending the same intolockingrelationship therewith analogously as in theembodiment of Figs, 5 to 7. The latter embodiment has. the further advantage that when. a valvestem-guide is desired it may be formed integrally with the strap-like side elements in one stamping operation, and as the valve vstem guide is therebyintegral with the strap-like: side elements, no separate forming or assembling operation is required in order to incorporate such, a .guide in the regulator unit.

It. will therefore be perceived that bythe present inventicn the elementsior. mounting a thermostat on the, supporting member are of simplifiedv construction that may be fabricated and assembled atreduced cost and at increased speed so as to provide for a more economical production of regulator units. Simple and highly eflicient means have been provided for attaching the stationary end of the thermostat to the mounting member and the mounting member to the supporting. member which. permits of. rapid assembly, and simple and highly efficient means have been provided for rigidly interlocking the component elements which enables assemblyby use of only simple operations. The use of tabs for securing the mounting member or .endwall of the thermostat to the strap: like side elements afiords a simple and highspeed operation and within the broader aspects of. the invention this manner of attachment may be used by providing the. tabs on other suitable members, forminga part of or connected to the thermostat, for bending into embracing relation-.- ship with. strap-like side elements or. other com-v parable elements.

While the embodiments of the invention illustrated on the drawings have been described with considerable particularity, it is to be expressly understood. that the invention is not limited thereto as the samev may receive a variety of mechanical expressions, as will now be apparent to those skilled in the art, while changes may be made in the details of construction, size, arrangement, proportion, etc., certain of the fea-- tures disclosed may be replaced by equivalent features, etc, features illustrated as applied to one embodiment maybe used in other embodiments, and certain features may be used without other features, without departing from the spirit of this invention. Reference is therefore r to be-had to the appended claims for a definition of the invention.

What is claimed is: I. In a temperature regulator of the type including a supporting memb'er', a'valve mechanism and a thermostat for operating said valve mechanism, means for attaching said thermostat to said supporting member including a mounting member provided with a centrally arranged aperture and slots defined by outwardly extending tabs, said thermostat including a tubular extension projecting into and having a flattened upset in said aperture, and strap-like elements secured to said supporting member and having their-opposite ends projecting "through said slots provided on said mounting member with said tabs bent into engagement with. said opposite-ends of saidstrap-like elements and said opposite ends being bent into engagement with said mounting member to lock said straplike elements tosaid mounting member.

2..In. a temperature regulator of the type including a supporting'memben'a valve mechanism and a thermostat for operating. said valve mechanism, means for attaching said thermostat to said supporting member including strap-like side elements secured to said supporting member and tabs extending from said thermostat to provide slots receiving said strap-like side elements and bent into embracing relationship with said straplike' side elements, said strap-like side elements being bent beyond said tabs into embracingrelationship with said thermostat.

3. In atemperature regulator of the type iii-- eluding a supporting member, a valve mechanism and a thermostat for operating said valve mechanism, means 'for attaching said thermostat to said supporting member including strap-like side elements secured to said supporting member, and a member unitarily associated with said thermo-- stat and including tabs to provi'deslots receiving, said strap-like side elements, said tabs being bent into embracing relationship with said strap-like side elements, and said strap-like side elements beyond said tabs being bent into embracing relationship with the last said member.

4. In a temperature regulator of the type inv eluding a suppcrtingmember, a valve mechanism and a thermostat for operating said valve mochanism, means for attaching said thermostat to said supporting member including a mounting member connected to theend of said thermostat and provided with slots, strap-like side elements having their ends projecting through said slots and secured to said mounting member, said supporting member also provided with slots, tabs on said side elements projecting throughsaid last named slots and bent. into engagement with said supporting member, and guide means for said valve mechanism bridging the space between said side elements and integral therewith.

5. In a temperature regulator of the type including a supporting member, a valve mechanism and a thermostat for operating said valve mechanism, means for attaching said thermostat to said supporting member including a mounting member connected to the end of said thermostat and having outwardly extending tabs defining slots, and strap-like: side elements secured to said supporting member at. one end and having their opposite ends projecting through said slots and provided with bends in engagement with said mounting member with said'tabs bent into engagement: with said side elements to secure the same to said mounting member.

JEAN'V. GIESLER. PAUL E. CATE.

REFERENCES CITED.

The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,680,235 Woods Aug. 7, 1928 1,783,730 Leach Dec... 2,, 1930 1,784,058 Giesler Dec.. 9,, 193.0 1,784,063 Giesler Dec; 9, 1930 2,321,755 Kost "June 15-, 1943 2,489,209 Watkins Nov. 22, 1949 

